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The upcoming origin film on The Joker from director Todd Phillips will reportedly feature the famous Batman villain as a failed 1980’s comedian…

Details about The Joker origin film are starting to come together.

The project that will serve as a stand alone movie separate from the rest of the canon in the DC shared film universe is circling Joaquin Phoenix as the star under writer and director Todd Phillips (The Hangover).

Now here’s where things get interesting.

According to The Wrap, The Joker origin film will feature the famed Batman villain as a failed 1980’s comedian, who eventually snaps before becoming the clown prince of crime in Gotham City.

The Joker origin film is being produced by famed director Martin Scorsese, who famously did the 1982 film King of Comedystarring Robert DeNiro as a comedian who just can’t catch a break.

This isn’t the first time that The Joker has been portrayed as a failed comic — in the classic story Batman: The Killing Joke from writer Alan Moore, the Joker is portrayed as a comedian who snaps after a bad day and turns to a life of crime to provide for his family before finally losing his sanity.

This new film is expected to fall under an upcoming Warner Bros. imprint that will produce movies featuring DC Comics characters that will be separate from the film universe that started with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steeland most recently continued with Justice League. While Phoenix is closing in on a deal to play the Joker in this origin story, Jared Leto still portrays the same character in the other DC films with him expected to pop up in Suicide Squad 2 from director Gavin O’Connor.

The Joker origin movie is rumored to kick off production at some point in the latter part of 2018 but that’s still up in the air at this time.